A Business Proposal Volumes 3 and 4 Review

In A Business Proposal Volumes 3 and 4, the heat increases between CEO Taemu and Hari, but unsurprisingly it’s Mr. Cha and Yeongsuh who move to the next step in their relationship.

Taemu knows that Shin Kim is actually Hari Shin, but Hari doesn’t know that Taemu knows. It sounds like a tongue twister, but it’s the best way to describe what’s going on. Their relationship has so many (hilarious) twists before they reach their happy ever after, that their story can’t help but pull the readers in. Hari is trying to avoid Taemu as much as she can, but as the two work together, it’s quite impossible. And even if Hari deceived him, Taemu has his eyes on her. First because of revenge, and then for something more… It seems our cold-hearted CEO is not as cold as he thought.

He tries to find any excuse to spend more time with Hari, and Hari ends up in situations where she cannot refuse him. Her mishaps turn into advantages for Taemu, who doesn’t hesitate to use them for his own gains. After all, he has always succeeded in everything he sets his mind to, and winning Hari’s heart is his latest mission. However, Hari can’t help but imagine wild scenarios in her head every time that Taemu does or says something. Each scenario ends up with Hari fired—which would be quite bad as she took out a loan from her company to help her parents’ chicken restaurant. Even when she figures out her real feelings for Taemu, she cannot simply admit it… she needs to win his heart by pretending to be his girlfriend. Hari’s logic is a little bit twisted, but hopefully it will work out in the end.

While Taemu and Hari deal with their own mess(es), Taemu’s secretary, Mr. Cha and Hari’s best friend Yeongsuh get it on. It didn’t take long for them to fall for each other, hook up and then in typical romantic comedy style undergo a series of misunderstandings. Thankfully they are more willing to talk about their feelings with each other compared to their friends, so hopefully they won’t encounter many more problems… at least if Hari’s younger brother who has a crush on Yeongsuh and Yeongsuh’s father don’t get in their way.

As the previous volumes, Volumes 3 and 4 are full of hilarious situations. Hari finally comes clean about the blind date. It’s too early to say her relationship will go on without further obstacles. Especially when Hari’s crush of seven years finally confesses, only for Hari to realize her own true feelings. She can see what’s going on around her with her friends and family, but she cannot understand Taemu’s feelings through his actions. I think we still have a long way to go before the two end up in a proper relationship.

These volumes also have scenes that are sexy without being explicit, but compared to the first two volumes, the story continuation is gearing toward a more adult audience. What I liked the most was the characters’ growth—Taemu, without realising it, doesn’t consider his job as his priority anymore. Hari instead is able to let her long-time crush go and figures out a way to spend more time with the person she loves. Now we only need to hope that the meeting with Taemu’s grandfather won’t go too badly, although seeing Hari’s personality, something embarrassing for her, but funny for the readers, will definitely happen.

The art sticks to the style of the previous volumes with vibrant and light colours and a plethora of detailed facial expressions to represent what the characters are going through. The comedy aspect has increased, all due to Hari’s mishaps, but the romantic tension has as well, and the illustrator Narak portrays it by switching to a darker colour palette to foreshadow trouble ahead.

A Business Proposal is written by Haehwa, illustrated by Narak and adapted by Perilla. It was published as a digital comic on Tapas, before being adapted to the screen as a K-drama available on Netflix. Ize Press publishes the print edition in the English language, and Volume 5 was released in May.